Mortgage without a deposit: what really works and what it costs

No Czech bank will lend you 100 % of the purchase price in October 2026. The ČNB (Czech National Bank) caps LTV at a binding 80 % of the property value, or 90 % for applicants under 36, and the exception for 5 % of loan volume is not used for full financing in practice.

You can still buy without cash by one of four routes banks know and accept: pledging a second property (typically your parents'), a building savings loan for the missing 20 %, the 90 % available to young buyers topped up from elsewhere, or a discount and deferred payments from a developer.

Each route has a price. On a CZK 5,000,000 flat, borrowing CZK 5 million instead of CZK 4 million at 5.00 % over 30 years means a payment of CZK 26,841 instead of CZK 21,473 and CZK 932,000 more in interest. Below, each route comes with what it requires and where the risk lies.

Will a Czech bank lend 100 % of the price?

Since 2022 the ČNB has had the statutory power (§ 45a–45c of the Act on the Czech National Bank) to set upper limits on LTV, DTI and DSTI. Only LTV 80 % is binding today, or 90 % if at least one applicant is under 36 and the property is for their own housing. Banks treat DSTI (deactivated on 1 July 2023) and DTI (1 January 2024) as internal thresholds of their own. For investment property, meaning a flat to let or a third or further property, the ČNB has recommended LTV 70 % and DTI 7 since 1 April 2026.

A bank may exceed 80 % for at most 5 % of the volume of new loans per quarter, and it keeps that for creditworthy clients slightly over the limit, not for 100 % financing. So when an ad offers a “mortgage with no deposit” (hypotéka bez akontace), it is always a combination: a mortgage up to 80–90 % plus a second pledge or a second loan. The common myths about 100 % mortgages have an article of their own. This article leaves out non-bank loans secured by property. They tend to cost many times more, and the mortgage bank will count their payment against your income limit anyway.

Which route without a deposit is cheapest?

With no cash at all, pledging your parents' flat gives the lowest payment: CZK 26,841 a month on a CZK 5,000,000 flat at 5.00 % over 30 years. The developer route costs less each month (CZK 20,399) but still needs CZK 950,000 by handover, and the building savings route has the highest payment for ten years but costs less interest in total than putting the whole price into the mortgage.

Assumptions: a mortgage at 5.00 % over 30 years and a building savings loan at an illustrative 6 % over 10 years. Purchase costs (valuation, land registry, commission, moving) are left out; on every route they come from your own pocket.

Pledging a second property

This is the most common solution. Alongside the flat you are buying, another property is pledged, usually your parents' flat or house, and the bank calculates LTV from the two valuations together. Buy a flat for CZK 5 million while your parents pledge a flat worth CZK 3 million, and a CZK 5 million loan against CZK 8 million of collateral is an LTV of 62.5 %, well under the limit. The bank lends the full price without breaking any rule.

What it takes and what it costs:

• Your parents are pledgors (zástavci), not borrowers. They need no income and make no payments, but they are liable with their property: if you stop paying, the bank can sell their flat too.
• The second property must be free of any other lien, because banks usually refuse a second-ranking pledge.
• A second valuation (CZK 3,000–6,000) and a second registration of the lien in the land registry (katastr nemovitostí) for CZK 2,000.
• Release of the collateral (vyvázání zástavy). Agree in the contract when the bank will let go of your parents' property, typically once LTV on the purchased flat falls below 80 % thanks to repayments and rising prices. With older flat prices up 14 % year on year (Q2 2026) that may take only a few years, but without an explicit clause you have no right to it.

The payment on a CZK 5 million loan over 30 years at 5.00 % is CZK 26,841. At banks' usual internal threshold of 45 %, that assumes a household net income of around CZK 59,700. How using your parents' house as collateral works, and when it can be released, is covered in a separate article.

A building savings loan for the missing 20 %

Here the mortgage covers 80 % (CZK 4 million) and the remaining million comes from a building savings loan (úvěr ze stavebního spoření): a standard one if your contract has a high enough score, otherwise a bridging loan (překlenovací úvěr). Up to a certain amount, building savings banks lend without a pledge, so no third party is needed. The mortgage bank, however, counts its payment within your 45 % like any other loan.

The catch is the term, which is much shorter than a mortgage's. Assume, for illustration, a 6 % rate over 10 years (actual terms vary by building savings bank and tariff): the payment is CZK 11,102 a month. Add the mortgage at CZK 21,473 and you pay CZK 32,575, which is CZK 5,700 more than on a single CZK 5 million loan, and the bank wants a net income of around CZK 72,400. After ten years the second payment disappears. That million will have cost you about CZK 332,000 in interest, against CZK 932,000 inside a 30-year mortgage: dearer each month, cheaper overall.

The combination suits people with a high income who have not had time to save, and who have held a building savings contract for several years. More in our article Building savings and mortgages.

If one of you is under 36

If at least one applicant is under 36, the bank may go up to 90 % LTV. On a CZK 5 million flat that leaves CZK 500,000 to find instead of a million, which a smaller gift, matured building savings or a smaller building savings loan can cover (CZK 500,000 over 10 years at an illustrative 6 % costs CZK 5,551 a month). Some banks also give young clients a rate discount and the looser internal DSTI threshold of 50 %.

A CZK 4.5 million loan over 30 years at 5.00 % means a payment of CZK 24,157, which needs a net income of around CZK 53,700 at 45 % or CZK 48,300 at 50 %. The cheapest price-list rates are tied to LTV up to 80 %, though, so at 90 % expect an offer above the advertised “from” rate. What else applies to young buyers is in our article Mortgage for under-36s.

Buying a new build from a developer

With a new build you do not pay the full price when you sign. A developer's payment schedule typically has a reservation deposit, one or two instalments during construction and the balance on handover, and 18–24 months often pass between signing the agreement on a future purchase agreement (smlouva o smlouvě budoucí kupní) and occupancy approval (kolaudace). The mortgage is arranged only for the balance, so you have two years to save or raise the rest of your own funds. With mortgages getting dearer, developers also offer discounts, cover part of the costs or defer instalments until handover.

In numbers: a 5 % discount on CZK 5 million brings the price to CZK 4.75 million, an 80 % mortgage to CZK 3.8 million and the own funds needed from CZK 1 million to CZK 950,000. The discount alone does not solve the problem; time does. Saving CZK 950,000 over 24 months is just under CZK 40,000 a month, manageable for a two-income household that is paying rent anyway.

The risks are construction delays (the rate is fixed only before drawdown, and today's offer will not hold for two years) and the bank's valuation on completion, which for projects sold above local prices may fall short of the contract price. New flats in Prague sell for around CZK 146,000–150,000/m² in 2026, so compare the price per square metre with completed sales nearby before you sign.

When not to take a mortgage without a deposit

• When your income only just qualifies. A payment of CZK 26,841 out of CZK 60,000 net is 45 %, with no buffer for the end of the fixed period; at 5.80 % the same CZK 5 million loan over 30 years would cost CZK 29,338.
• When you plan to sell within a few years. If you sell within 24 months of taking out the loan, the bank may charge compensation of up to 0.25 % for each started year until the end of the fixed period, at most 1 % of the amount repaid in total. The bigger problem is that with LTV close to 100 %, a 5–10 % fall in prices is enough for the sale not to cover the debt.
• When the parents' flat is their only asset and they are nearing retirement. The pledge also limits their ability to sell or transfer it.
• When you are buying above the valuation. On the no-cash routes there is nothing left to cover the gap between price and valuation.

If one of the routes suits you, the How much can I borrow calculator shows how much the bank will lend on your income. Have a plan B ready before you sign the reservation agreement.